What is Play?- Early Childhood Care and Education Curriculum Framework

What is
Play?

NATIONAL EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION (ECCE) CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK-Ministry of Women and Child Development

Play
for a child is natural, spontaneous, enjoyable, rewarding and it is
self-initiated. While children do not engage in play for its learning outcomes,
yet it has been shown that play prompts growth and development.

In
recent times play has been considered as a behavioural disposition that occurs
in describable and reproducible contexts and is manifested in a variety of
observable behaviours. (Fein & Vandenberg,1983). There are majorly four
types of play such as

Functional
Play: Children use their senses and muscles to explore and
experiment with materials and learn how things go together. It satisfies
children’s need to be active and to explore.

Constructive
Play: Children learn use of different materials, put things
together based on a plan, develop and use strategies of reaching their goal.

Dramatic or Pretend Play: Children take on a role, pretend to be someone else and use real or pretend objects to play out a role. Children re-enact they have experienced or watched earlier, use words and gestures and show the role they are playing.

Games with Rules: Children gradually learn to play with others, control their behaviour and conform to a structure of preset rules. However the focus is more on enjoyment rather than winning or losing and cooperative and collaborative games in which children play with each other than against each other.

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NATIONAL EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION (ECCE) CURRICULUM FRAMEWORKMinistry of Women and Child Development